Whiz Marvel Genesis
by Mikel Midnight
Summary: Captain Marvel pairs off with the Huntress to prevent Thanosied and his minons from acquiring the Mother Cube, requiring the assistance of an amalgamated pair from an alternate dimension: Cloak and Dove. Written with Redfender.


The sky was blue, the birds were chirping, but Captain Marvel didn't notice. His thoughts were drifting much more than usual, mostly back to the details of his denied Kree heritage and his relations with his fellow Judgement League Avengers. Not more than five moments ago, Super Soldier had suggested to him that he skip their weekly meeting and take a sabbatical. He had also unknowingly rubbed salt into the wound by suggesting that Cap needed to 'loosen up some.'

If only they knew of his history, they would know the reason for his austere behavior. In Kree society, all was war, and war was life. If you didn't take yourself and others seriously, you died. The code of the Kree was a simple one: fight with honor, die with honor.

He couldn't tell them of course, about his heritage. If they knew who he was, what he was, they would distrust him. After all, wasn't it the threat of Kree invasion that had caused the JL:A to form in the first place?

The Captain's thoughts were interrupted by a shrill blood-curdling scream not more than a few blocks away. He drifted down over the New Gotham Skyline, his heartbeat increasing as he prepared for the possibility of an altercation.

It wasn't a skirmish that lay waiting for him at the point from which the scream came however, it was the limp body of a young woman, in her mid-20's with blonde hair and auburn eyes. She was clad in an azure and violet jumpsuit, with various gadgets and gizmos stored in leather pouches around her waist and shoulders. The bluish bruise on her forehead seemed to be inflicted by some sort of blunt object; possibly a club, a bat...or a horrendously large fist.

Marvel sat the woman up and cradled her head in his arms. She stirred slightly, and he tapped his hand lightly against her cheek. Her eyes slowly began to open as she regained consciousness.

"That's a nasty bruise you have there miss..." He spoke softly, so as not to startle her too much. Her lips parted slightly as she began gasping for air.

"Thanoseid!" She leaped up from Marvel's arms, and withdrew her crossbow from its holster on her shoulder. "Where is that chunk of alien slag? I'll kill him!" The Captain's ears perked up at the name of a longtime JL:A foe.

"Thanoseid? That tyrant walks the surface of Earth again?" The woman nodded, she peered around the corner of a dilapidated brick building. "No sign of him here, now."

"Nor was there any when I first landed and saw you...miss?"

"Carol Danvers, my friends call me Huntress. He must've used a Boom-Tube to escape. He stole it and got away!" Carol swore to herself under her breath as she checked her satchel.

"Might I inquire as to what that stolen object was, Ms. Danvers?"

"Only the most dangerous weapon in the history of the universe: the Mother Cube!"

* * *

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 miles away, the being known as Thanoseid rested in his cool underground palace beneath the Arizona desert. The viewscreen in his underground palace flickered, its coordinates resting on a point in an alley on the Eastern side of New Gotham City. Thanoseid laughed a deep throaty laugh, the rocky exterior of his face wrinkling with mirth.

"Captain Marvel has found my lovely prey...they no doubt will set out on their quest to thwart my plans! Granny Harkness, summon Mantis the Controller!"

* * *

"If Thanoseid has the Mother Cube, then we're all in trouble!" Captain Marvel's mind was racing, trying to develop a plan of action.

"Then I take it you know how much trouble we're in?"

"Of course, have you never heard of the cosmic battles between Thanoseid and Captain Marvel?!" The Kree had never understood the human concept of 'modesty'; it was a warrior's earned right to regale others with his achievements on the battlefield.

"Captain Marvel? You're the Captain Marvel from the JL:A? Could you put me in touch with Dark Claw?"

"No time for that...I'm afraid we don't have much time for anything when Thanoseid is concerned."

"Well then, what are-" Carol was cut short by a push from behind. The hands that performed the shove seemed to belong to a young street punk, a dime a dozen in the city of New Gotham; there seemed to be at least a dozen encircling Carol and Marvel. "I'll tell you what you are going to do woman, you are going to die!" The youth demonstrated his point by withdrawing a metal-link chain from behind his back.

"For a streetrat such as yourself, you speak awfully confidently." Captain Marvel stepped in front of the Huntress, taking the thug's first blow across his chest. It didn't seem to affect him much.

"Now, my young friend...let me return the favor." Marvel drew back his fist and connected with the delinquent's chin. The punk flew back into the arms of two others, rubbing his sore jaw. "For that, you big green cheesehead, you will pay dearly." He brought the chain forth once again, striking quickly at Marvel's face. The Captain's hand went up to catch the metallic weapon, and he counter-struck by flinging the derelict through the wall of the building beside of him. The other hoodlums began to edge forward, flashing weapons of all sorts.

The Captain turned to Carol muttering quietly, "Stay behind me, I'll protect you." He was surprised, however, to find that Ms. Danvers had already disposed of more than a few of the miscreants herself.

"No need, Captain. I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself." She lowered her crossbow and got a bead on a nearby hood. The arrow found its mark, cutting through the brawler's right shoulder. "He won't be swinging that bat again for a good long while."

Marvel thrust his fist into an oncomer's stomach. As he fell, Marvel spotted something peculiar at the base of his neck. "What ho, there's an odd...disc of some sort at the nape of this young one's neck!" He brought down another, with a slightly gentler blow. "This one too! This could only be the work of Mantis!"

A figure stepped forward from the shadows. "You assume correctly, Captain, and it is by my hand which you will fall!" The gang parted, and the green and yellow clad creature made his way towards Marvel.

"You know this man Marv?" Huntress stepped over the body of one of the fallen as she made her way towards the real action.

"Once we fought, years ago. He manufactures these small discs to gain control of his manipulatee's thoughts, voice and actions."

"They follow me like bugs, to their inescapable deaths," Mantis sneered. "Even if they succeed in their tasks, those discs will detonate and destroy them, much like your earthling kamikazes. It's quite funny actually."

The Captain looked down at one limp body that lay strewn at his feet. "You are a monster!"

Mantis smirked to himself, "Mmn. And quite proud of it too. But let's dispense with this idle blather, good Captain. I've been waiting so long to have your death at my hands!" He leaped forward, the fingers of his razor-sharp gauntlet extended at Marvel's throat.

Marvel side-stepped the assault, and threw his beetle-like opponent to the hard cold asphalt of the New Gotham street. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer, for it will not happen today!"

The force of Mantis' crash split the pavement and wrinkled the road, tossing chunks of asphalt and cement all over the area. Yet even still, Mantis was unhurt and thirsty for blood. "Marvel, you attack too lightly. You could have easily dispersed with me, but now I have another chance, with which I will not fail!" Mantis brought up a steel boot into the Captain's midsection. Marvel fell back, hoping for a chance to catch his breath. Mantis did not let up, as he leaped forward with his fists aiming at Marvel's chin. He connected, sending the Captain rolling across the ground.

"You see, Captain Marvel? You have no chance! You can never beat Mantis the Controller!" Mantis stepped on one of his fallen victims as he prepared another assault on Marvel. His hands were deft, but struck with great force, as one by one they struck Marvel's body. Bones broken, bleeding, gasping for air, Marvel could only fall back and throw up attempts at blocking Mantis' relentless punches.

With one more savage blow, Mantis hammered Marvel through the side of the building that made up half of the alley. Inside, people scrambled to get out of the way. Outside, Mantis was ready to deliver the final, fatal blow.

"And now, Captain Marvel, you die in the name of Apokolips!" He lifted his blade-edged fist above his head, about to plunge it deep into Marvel's chest.

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" A voice came from above Mantis, his head swivelled to pinpoint its source.

"Who?" Mantis swallowed his last word as an arrow pierced through his larynx. His hands went up to grasp the shaft in his throat.

"Like I said before, my friends call me Huntress."

Mantis fell, his body landing with those of his martyrs. Carol Danvers leaped down from her perch and made her way towards the fallen hero.

"Captain? Are you alright?"

The Captain was unconscious, but his voice still came out of his battered mouth in staccato breaths. He uttered the same name over and over again: "Eon...Eon...Eon..."

* * *

"Eon...where are we?" Captain Marvel asked the floating being before him. Marvel himself was floating, but he didn't know where. Last thing he remembered, he was being brutally pummelled and the next minute, he was floating amongst purple clouds in the presence of the being that had originally given him his powers.

"My son, we are in the Phantom Negative Zone. Luckily for you, I managed to 'phase' you out before you were beaten to death by that lackey of Thanoseid's. You cannot keep running at this rate, especially if you plan to defeat Thanoseid before he executes his dangerous machinations."

Marvel had learned to control his floating motions. "Thanoseid's plan? You know what it is?"

"I do, but I will not tell you. I will tell you however, that it is your duty to defend the universe from this threat."

"How can I, when I cannot even beat his simple minion?" The Captain was perturbed at his harrowing loss.

The old face before him contorted itself. "You will not do it alone, my young friend. With you at all times will be the Huntress, whom you have met already. Throughout your ordeal, you will require the help of your comrades in the Judgement League Avengers. You will also gain acquaintances on your journeys who will assist you in every way possible. You will not be alone on your quest, Captain Marvel."

"My quest? My ordeal? If you know what I'll be going through, then why not warn me beforehand?"

"Do you doubt that I know what is best for you, Captain Marvel? I who first endowed young Billy Mar-Vell with the powers that have allowed him to become what you are today?"

"No, I...uh..." Captain Marvel stammered, ashamed of his distrust of his mentor.

"Then so be it." Eon lifted his hands above his head, there was a flash of light and the Captain disappeared from the Phantom Negative Zone in another flash of bright light.

"Goodbye my young friend, I wish you well on your quest." The old Eon smiled to himself.

* * *

"It's about time you came around," muttered Carol as the Captain sat up with a start. "Mantis, did he...?" Carol shook her head, as she pointed to the lifeless body of the Controller. The long shaft of a crossbow arrow stood straight from his throat.

"You're just lucky that I was there to cover your back, or else that might be you lying there right now." Captain Marvel shook his head, and seemed to regain his composure. He brushed off the chunks of brick and debris that had fallen on him.

"That's all behind us now. We must now make plans to recover the Mother Cube from Thanoseid."

"Well, there's one thing I didn't tell you," said Carol with a slight smirk on her face, "Thanoseid didn't get the real Mother Cube. The one he stole from me was a schematic model, for the S.H.I.E.L.D. archives. I gave the real Cube to Dark Claw for safe-keeping on the JL:A satellite. Thanoseid's probably just now realizing his error."

* * *

Thanoseid gritted his teeth, trying to keep his extreme anger in check. His gaze turned down to the pile of dust lying in his hand, a pile of dust that was once a model of the Mother Cube.

"Earthling wench," his eyes flickered with the red fury of his Omega Beams. "The object I stole from her wasn't the real Cube. It had no connection to the Infinity Essence."

The Apokalipsian technician Kalkus shuffled forward. "But Master, with that model, we could have constructed our own Mother Cube!" Thanoseid turned, his eyes glowing.

"Such insolence, dost thou doubt the competence of thy leader?" Two beams of light blasted out from his eyes and struck the small being. Kalkus flew across the room and struck against the opposite wall.

"Does anyone else care to complain?" Thanoseid asked, his voice shaking the walls of the throne room. No one answered, nor did anyone rush to help the injured one who lay against the other wall whimpering.

"Now, we shall make plans to recover the authentic Cube."

* * *

The transporter in the Judgement League: Avengers' satellite burst into a golden glow, and the form of Angelhawk slowly assembled.

"Monitor duty, schmonitor duty," complained Warren Hall from behind his feathered mask. "How come Super-Soldier never has monitor duty?" Hall lounged in front of the security monitor system in the control room of the JL:A satellite idly twiddling his thumbs. His head swiveled from monitor to monitor, checking for any signs of activity.

"None there...none there...none, wait! I think I see some dust bunnies moving!" Angelhawk wished he were somewhere else, anywhere else; test-piloting, fighting bad-guys, slamming his hand in doors...

"Wait, what's this? A distress signal, and none of the other JL:Aers seem to be responding! I don't suppose that those dust-bunnies will be going anywhere until I get back..."

His hands ran over the keyboard with practised ease. The original distress signal which summoned several disparate members of the JL:A must have been accompanied by some sort of energy release. He put out a Code Red signal, summoning the members of the team as well as its scattered auxiliaries into action. He didn't see the man in the shadows behind him.

* * *

In New Gotham, other figures hid in the shadows. One clad in light, the other in a darkness deeper than his surroundings.

"So, now you're satisfied?"

"Yes. This isn't our reality at all. What do we do now?"

"This isn't really the sort of thing we know how to deal with. I think we need help. I think we should contact this world's Justice League of Avengers."

"The moonbase? I've never tried to teleport that far."

"I don't think we should make our presence publicly known, and there's no other way of contacting them. The JLA will know how to handle it."

* * *

"Where is it?"

Warren Hall screamed. "I don't know! Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you!"

Kanto the assassin reactivated the agoniser which he had attached to Angelhawk. "Where is the Mother Cube?" Kanto demanded again.

"Let him go, Kanto," said a soft voice from behind them.

Kanto whirled around, shimmering blades appearing in his hands. Two unfamiliar men stood before him: one, clad in soft blue and white, and the other clad in a blackness which swirled around him. "You know my name, then? I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure."

The man in white spoke softly, "We go by Cloak and Dove. And you don't know us, but we know your counterpart in our reality all too well. Please release that man."

Kanto's hands moved so quickly they were barely visible, but Cloak's darkness was faster. The blades vanished into the darkfield, which extended to swallow Kanto himself. Cloak smiled grimly.

Dove frowned. "That tactic wouldn't have worked so easily on our world's Kanto ... but then, he's encountered us before." He went over to Angelhawk and disconnected the agoniser. "Are you ok?"

Warren Hall gasped. "Yes ... yes, thank you. Who are you?"

Cloak joined the others, "We are visitors from another reality. We are mortal enemies of Thanosied ... and where Kanto is, Thanosied is not far behind."

Warren Hall shook his head, trying to clear it. "What's your connection to all of this?"

Dove helped Angelhawk sit up. "On our own reality, Cloak and I had received probably fatal injections of an experimental narcotic. It had already killed a friend of Cloak's, a girl named Tandy, and it had also killed my brother Hank. But we were saved when we were given powers by a mysterious voice. We joined the ... superhero community, you might say, after we foiled an assassination attempt on my father. We found out later we had been used as pawns. The mysterious voice turned out to be our world's version of Thanosied. My non-violent philosophies were to be used to pacify Earth's superheroes into a less aggressive stance, and Cloak's darkness was to be manipulated directly by Thanosied for his own ends. Fortunately, with some atomic-powered assistance, we were able to foil Thanosied's plans and make our own destiny. We ... "

Dove's monologue was interrupted, "Put him down. Now!"

The pair turned around to face the teleporter. Captain Marvel and the Huntress stood there. Dove smiled. "I know you. Captain Marvel, correct? Even though your uniform is white and green rather than the red and yellow with which I am familiar. And with you is the Black Bat?"

Carol Danvers scowled. "My friends call me Huntress, actually. Now, as the good Captain said, release Angelhawk."

Angelhawk gasped out, "Wait ... Cap, it's not what you think. These two saved my life."

Captain Marvel turned to the Huntress. "Remember what Eon told me? That I would gain acquaintances on my journeys who will assist me? Maybe these two are whom he was referring to."

Huntress nodded, slowly. She was wary about including outsiders, but it appears she had no choice. "Very well then. We have a problem. Dark Claw and I hid the Mother Cube aboard the satellite for safekeeping, and it seems Thanosied has discovered its whereabouts."

Angelhawk managed to force himself to his feet, "You did _what_?"

Before Huntress could explain further, they heard a familiar BOOM. "It's Thanosied!" Captain Marvel snarled. Dove nodded, "Yes, I know."

The figure himself, towering over the humans, entered the monitor room. "Release my lackey, dark one." He was followed by a small army of Apokalipsian parademons.

Cloak grinned, "Take him ... I've got nothing to do with him now." The darkness parted, and the body of Kanto fell to the ground, ice cold and shivering, and barely conscious.

Thanosied looked down at him almost compassionately, "It was a devotion of much time to create thee, Kanto, and I have more work for thee to do yet." With a blast from his eyes, he transported the prone figure back to his home world. "Now that thou hast been so kind to confirm my suspicions, turn over the Mother Cube to me, and I will allow thee to live."

"Never!" Captain Marvel shouted out, and flew at Thanosied, "and with the powers that were granted to me by my mentor Eon to defeat you, your evil plans will never bear fruit!" As one, the Apokalipsian parademons attacked the humans.

Angelhawk's mutant physiognomy felt reawakened enough to join the battle with the others, as Huntress' crossbow arrows took down several of the parademons.

"That remains to be seen," Thanosied replied, and entered into the battle in force.

Dove ducked an attack by one of the parademons. He watched them falling to Angelhawk's and Huntress' powerful defence. "They are nothing but a diversion," he realised. He approached Cloak, who was battling more of the parademons as they arrived from the Boom Tube.

"What?" his partner replied in irritation. Dove whispered to him, "Our skills are wasted here. This isn't the battle we need to be fighting." Cloak nodded, and the pair vanished.

Thanosied's strength was greater than Captain Marvel suspected. The latter was unable to defeat his foe as the titanic figure strode through the battlefield, and picked up the Huntress. She tried to aim a crossbow arrow at him, but he destroyed her weapon easily. "Enough of this futile struggle," he said, "Surrender to me the Mother Cube, or I will destroy this female, molecule by molecule." The remaining parademons had Angelhawk down, caught without Huntress to guard his back.

Captain Marvel stood by, unsure for a moment. Huntress cried out, "Don't listen to him!"

Suddenly, Cloak reappeared. From out of his darkforce strode Dove. "No more fighting. Here is what you wanted, Thanosied." He held in his hands the Mother Cube.

"No!" Huntress screamed. "Yes!" Thanosied said, and took the artefact in his hands.

Angelhawk said, "I thought you told me you were making your own destiny, Dove."

Thanosied gloated, "Fools! Now, I shall not be taken in by another fake. Mother Cube, use the power of the Infinity Essence to destroy them!"

The heroes braced themselves, but nothing happened. Thanosied scowled, "Dost thou seek to confound me with another duplicate, small one?"

Dove shook his head. "No. That is the real Mother Cube. I used its power on itself. It can now only be used for benevolent, pacifistic ends. It is useless to you."

"Bah!" Thanosied spat out. A Boom Tube appeared, and he and the parademons vanished.

Huntress breathed a sigh of relief. "I ought to be mad at you for tampering with such a unique artefact, but you saved all our lives. Thank you."

Dove nodded. "I've seen too much of Thanosied's evil ... at least my Thanosied ... to not try to help."

* * *

NOTES:

When the late Steve Whitaker and I were developing the characters who eventually became 'Hawk & Dagger,' we were looking for alternative explanations for whom the 'voice' would turn out to be, before we decided on the Greek gods. We considered the Spectre, but I thought he would just have created Hawk and not Dove. We also considered Darkseid, with the thought that the characters' creation was part of some greater ploy, but were not to our satisfaction able to come up with an over-arching storyline which satisfied us. The background given to the cross-amalgamated 'Cloak & Dove' gave me an opportunity to show how else the characters might have manifested.


End file.
